


Carnival Toys

by marshv



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 21:25:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4851053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshv/pseuds/marshv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel is sick and stuck by herself at the Mystery Shack.</p>
<p>A request from tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carnival Toys

**Author's Note:**

> Sibling cuteness *clutches chest* my one weakness.

Of all the days to be sick she just had to be sick on the one day a carnival had come to town. What kind of carnival only came for one day anyhow? Some weirdo carnival probably. Which was all the more reason to be excited about it and all the more reason to be upset that she couldn't go! Who the heck got the flu in summer anyway?

Mabel. Mabel got the flu in summer.

She wiggled down into the cocoon of blankets she was in and let out a huff. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to sneak out. Of course fun was more important than health, at least in her case. A part of her knew she would force Dipper to stay home too if it had been him who was sick. But this was different, Dipper took terrible care of himself, he needed her to remind him to relax. Mabel knew her limits.

Except that it wasn't different at all. And an even larger part of her knew that.

Despite the scratchy feeling in her throat and the aching in her joints, the thing that hurt the most was that Dipper had absolutely insisted on going to the carnival instead of staying home with her. Not that she could blame him. Had the positions been reversed she would have had trouble staying home too, as much as she loved her brother. Though, ultimately, she knew she would have picked him. That bit of knowledge upset her.

Mabel pushed the thoughts aside and sighed, letting the weight of her head fall on her pillow and trying to will the virus away. Maybe, just maybe, if she slept now she could wake up feeling better and catch the last few hours of the carnival.

-

The thing with sleeping when you're sick though, is that you tend to sleep a lot longer than you normally would. When she woke up and read the clock, the eagerness she had dissipated. She had slept through the entire afternoon and most of the night and felt no better than she did when she fell asleep.

Dejection written on her face, she sat up and dropped her head and felt a sickness in her stomach that she recognized as disappointment. Her least favorite emotion next to the one she got whenever she accidentally hurt someone's feelings.

Kinda like Dipper had done when he left earlier.

As if the universe was reading her thoughts, the door opened and she lifted her head to see her brother shuffle in with bags full of who knows what.

"Dipper you're back!" she cheered. All previous thoughts and negativity overpowered by the joy she got from seeing her sibling and the curiosity at what he was carrying. Though it still nagged at the back of her head.

"Sorry I had to leave like that. I had a good reason though I promise." he grunted as he hefted the bags over to Mabel.

"Psshh. Don't worry about it! I slept all day anyway! But if you want you can make it up to me by telling me what's in the bags." she grinned at him for a few seconds before a cough came up.

"Ugh. I will but you gotta lay down."

"Why?" she didn't lay down. "Is it kittens? Are you going to dump bagfulls of playful little kittens on me to cheer me up? Oh Dipper you shouldn't have!"

"What? That doesn't even– why would I carry kittens in bags? Whatever it's not kittens." he dropped the bags onto her bed and spilled their contents.

Dozens of cheap and tacky carnival prizes fell out and covered Mabel's bed: Pocket sized stuffed animals, plastic toys, neon light up jewelry, all badly made and in vast quantities.

Mabel slapped her hands to her face and inhaled deeply before letting out a very scratchy, but unmistakably excited squeal.

"Oh my gosh, Dipper! How did you get all these?" she picked up several brightly colored rings and slipped them onto her fingers.

"Luck mainly." he shrugged. "It's not as impressive as it looks, a lot of the games gave you multiple prizes. I wanted to bring you back a sheep from the petting zoo too but they wouldn't let—"

He was cut off by a hug that constructed around his chest. Mabel squeezed him as tight as she could and laughed when he tried to wiggle free, releasing him after a few seconds.

"Dipper you're the best brother ever! Is this why you wanted to go to the carnival so bad?"

He gave a nervous smile, fearful of another rib crushing hug and nodded.

"You were sick and couldn't go. I knew you'd spend the whole time trying to win stuff anyway so I just did it for you. Sorry I took so long."

Mabel could feel a lump in her throat. She sniffled once and leaned forward to give Dipper another, gentler hug.

He hugged her back and smiled, feeling a soft shaking from her that made him hold her tighter.

So much sentiment over carnival toys.


End file.
